From Spanish to Multilingual Success: The Interesting Role of English Training in Colombia’s Nearshoring Growth

Picture a workforce that seamlessly blends cultural sensitivity with multilingual proficiency. The result? A business equipped to deliver impactful, customer-focused global operations.

This vision has become a reality in Colombia, where a rapid rise in English training has unlocked unprecedented opportunities for businesses seeking nearshoring solutions. This Latin American tech hub has rapidly emerged as a leader in multilingual capabilities, unlocking new levels of competence and opportunity. Its progress has positioned the country as a top nearshoring destination for businesses seeking expert support in Spanish and English. Colombia’s rise is fueled by significant advancements in English proficiency, targeted language training, and a commitment to cultural sensitivity, making it a strong contender in the competitive nearshoring market.

But what gives Colombia its edge in multilingual support? Let’s explore the factors driving Colombia’s success and why it stands out as the ideal nearshoring hub for Spanish-speaking and bilingual support.

Colombia’s Rising English Proficiency Trends

According to the EF EPI, Colombia’s English proficiency rating rose 37 points from 2020 to 2024 —- a spike fueled by educational reforms, a rise in globalization among younger generations, and the growing demand for bilingual talent in the job market.

Nationwide Education Reforms Through English Learning

English has seen a significant rise in demand within the Colombian workforce, becoming a cornerstone for expanding English teaching opportunities. Programs such as Colombia Very Well play a pivotal role in this transformation. Designed to enhance the country’s English language landscape, this initiative drives the development of English-related careers, creating a strong connection between language proficiency and employment opportunities. As a result, the program has positioned English as both a critical skill and a driver of economic growth in Colombia.

This rapid improvement in English proficiency aligns seamlessly with the requirements of offshore clients. Businesses seeking nearshore partners benefit from a workforce that not only meets but often exceeds their language and communication expectations, enabling efficient collaboration and the delivery of high-quality support.

Younger Colombians are Leading the Bilingual Trend

Younger Colombians are at the forefront of the bilingual trend, with exceptional proficiency in the English language. To put this into perspective, a Statista study revealed that 31-40-year-old Latin Americans ranked highest in English proficiency.

However, Gen-Zs and Gen Alphas are rapidly catching up. Globalization has transformed language learning, making English a key skill for navigating global business and technology. For younger Colombians, English proficiency has shifted from a competitive advantage to a must-have for thriving in today’s interconnected world.

Western media and social platforms have fueled this change. Streaming services, Hollywood films, and global music expose young Colombians to English early on, while social media keeps them engaged daily with English content, global influencers, and diverse international communities.

Rising Demand for Bilingual Talent 

Bilingual and English fluency are rapidly becoming essential skills in the global job market. A recent study showed that nine out of ten employers depend on multilingual employees for business growth and international market expansion, with 56% predicting a sharp rise in demand for bilingual talent over the next five years.

This highlights the increasing importance of language skills in driving global business success. For the Colombian workforce, mastering English is no longer optional. It’s a vital asset for career advancement in an interconnected world.

English Training as a Strategic Investment in Colombia Nearshoring

As the demand for bilingual talent grows in Colombia, so does the need for English proficiency training in client communication. Companies seeking to capitalize on the country’s linguistic potential recognize the importance of equipping their workforce with the skills to bridge cultural and language gaps seamlessly.

To meet this demand, nearshoring firms increasingly invest in comprehensive onboarding and language training programs. These initiatives are tailored to meet client needs and expectations, ensuring that teams are proficient in multiple languages and adept at delivering culturally sensitive and customer-focused support.

Partnering With Local Language Institutions

Colombia has made significant strides in its language fluency capabilities, as reflected in its growth in proficiency and access to English language training. This progress reflects the country’s commitment to preparing its workforce for the demands of a globalized economy. A key strategy for nearshoring firms to leverage this growth is forming partnerships with local language institutes. These collaborations are pivotal in equipping employees with the bilingual skills necessary to meet client needs effectively.

While Spanish remains the predominant language in Colombia, with an estimated 99.2% of the population speaking it, the rise in bilingualism has become increasingly critical. Nearshoring firms recognize the importance of delivering seamless support in both Spanish and English. To address this, they integrate language training programs with local expertise, ensuring their teams are proficient and culturally aligned with the diverse needs of international clients. This approach underscores the value of language as a tool for enhancing operational efficiency and strengthening client relationships.

Industry-Specific Training Terminologies for Sectors Such as Healthcare and Finance

English training also ensures smoother communication regarding industry-specific terms and jargon. In crucial industries such as healthcare, where wait times and communication can change a patient’s experience and health, English training for support representatives ensures transparency and a comfortable speaking environment for patients. 

Another example where this applies is the finance industry. Sensitive information moves throughout the finance industry, where clients or customers entrust financial decisions and assets to crucial teams. Proper communication is the bridge that ensures success within the financial industry. 

With these investments set in stone, employees are on a path to career opportunities, leading to incredible growth for both the business firm and the employees. 

The Career Impact of English Proficiency in Colombia

English-speaking professionals from Colombia reap the benefits of career opportunities and higher salaries. With the ongoing demand for English speakers in the country, bilingual efficiency can bring employees to greater heights.

Language Proficiency Motivating Professionals to Pursue Bilingual Careers

Language proficiency stands out as a critical skill in today’s globalized workforce. Strong communication skills significantly enhance workplace success and productivity, particularly in team-based environments where collaboration and clarity are essential. Recognizing this, many employees and professionals are increasingly motivated to pursue bilingual-related opportunities and roles that leverage their language abilities.

The data supports this trend, showing that 40% of workers attribute their careers to language skills. They report that their proficiency in multiple languages directly contributed to securing their positions. Furthermore, studies highlighted a clear financial advantage: multilingual workers earn, on average, 19% higher salaries than their monolingual counterparts. This correlation underscores the growing value of language proficiency for career advancement and economic mobility in an increasingly interconnected world.

Higher Earnings and Career Growth for Talent Retention

The impressive earning potential and growth opportunities tied to multilingual skills contribute to higher employee retention and skill development within nearshoring firms. These benefits highlight the long-term value of investing in language proficiency. For instance, data from Preply shows that multilingual workers in Fremont, California, rank among the top earners, with an average salary of $67,804. This underscores the global career impact of multilingualism. Similarly, nearshoring firms in Colombia reap significant advantages from the rising English proficiency among their workforce, driving both employee and organizational success.

Beyond talent retention, enhanced skills and the job satisfaction associated with language proficiency enable nearshoring firms to improve operational efficiency and service quality. English proficiency and multilingual capabilities open endless opportunities for employees while also delivering benefits to companies, including increased productivity and robust growth potential. Language expertise’s career impact is a powerful tool for creating a sustainable competitive advantage.

The financial rewards and professional development pathways tied to English proficiency position Colombia as a hub for cultivating a motivated and highly productive workforce. With this foundation established, let’s explore how expanding multilingual expertise beyond English can unlock even better opportunities and propel Colombia’s workforce to new heights.

Expanding Multilingual Capabilities Beyond the English Language

While Colombia specializes in providing customer support in Spanish, its language expertise today goes beyond both Spanish and English. The country’s multilingual representatives adhere to meeting standards and expectations that go beyond the demands of the U.S. market. 

Multilingual Capabilities Expanding Reach to Europe or Latin America

Colombia is actively working to expand and diversify its language services, with a particular focus on Portuguese, French, and German. These efforts aim to strengthen the country’s multilingual capabilities, enhance its customer service offerings, and establish a more substantial presence in European and Latin American markets.

The research underscores the value of expanding language fluency in Colombia. The country aims to foster linguistic proficiency and a deeper understanding of diverse cultures and perspectives by integrating additional languages into school curricula. This approach emphasizes more than just vocabulary. It incorporates the nuances of culturally sensitive communication, including tone, body language, and appropriate terminology.

Expanding these multilingual capabilities has significant implications for Colombia‘s customer support sector. Engaging with cultural diversity and delivering fluency-rich, culturally sensitive interactions is invaluable in industries where bilingual or multilingual communication is critical. This commitment positions Colombia as a competitive nearshoring destination for businesses seeking exceptional customer support tailored to global audiences.

Supporting Clients in Different Languages for Expanded Market Reach

Support in Spanish and bilingualism go a long way in enhancing customer experience and satisfaction. Multilingual fluency provides opportunities further to support clients and markets in diverse languages and markets. As nearshoring firms meet clients from different cultures, the lack of proper communication can make those interactions challenging. By expanding their multilingual capabilities and support, nearshoring firms can reach emerging markets and diverse customer bases without language barriers or miscommunications holding them back.  

With the shift towards multilingual fluency and expertise, Colombia is set as a decisive landmark for being an excellent global outsourcing hub. 

Cultural and Linguistic Adaptability as a Business Advantage

Building strong connections with clients and diverse customer bases is key to enabling Colombian businesses to operate more effectively. Achieving this requires more than technical expertise; it demands a profound cultural and linguistic adaptability commitment. Colombian professionals prioritize these qualities, ensuring transparent and clear communication with every client and eliminating potential interaction gaps.

Speech tones and patterns enhance cultural sensitivity, fostering meaningful and productive exchanges. By leveraging cultural and linguistic adaptability, Colombian businesses go a step further. They tailor customer interactions with region-specific tones and accents, creating personalized experiences that resonate with clients. This adaptability improves customer service and strengthens trust and loyalty, positioning Colombian businesses as valuable partners in a global marketplace.

Cultural Understanding Fosters Greater Client Relationships and Collaborations

​​PwC revealed that 66% of executives prioritize culture over operational models, underscoring the critical role cultural understanding plays in building successful client relationships. This statistic highlights how cultural alignment is more than a soft skill—it is a strategic asset that drives collaboration and fosters trust in business partnerships.

A lack of cultural understanding can have significant consequences, like a lack of proven experience in a company’s portfolio. Just as demonstrated expertise attracts high-value opportunities and strengthens client partnerships, cultural understanding is vital in forging meaningful business relationships. Companies that invest in cultural competency position themselves to navigate diverse markets more effectively, enhancing their appeal as trusted partners on a global scale.

Linguistic Flexibility for Crucial Roles Such as Sales, Client Support, and Customer Service Roles

But Colombia’s linguistic adaptability goes beyond business collaborations. It tackles sales and customer service roles, where sales roles and multilingual call center services enhance the customer and client experience with businesses. Expanding sales opportunities and customer bases to a larger and global scale enhances the Colombian workforce, making their operations more robust and solidifying their nearshoring firms as an ideal and excellent example of a globally efficient workspace.  

With a globally efficient workforce in mind, this cultural adaptability enables and pushes operational efficiency and enhanced business productivity.

Bilingualism as a Driver for Business Efficiency

Bilingual professionals in Colombia offer a unique advantage. They seamlessly bridge communication gaps by fluently speaking Spanish, English, and other languages. This linguistic versatility enhances business operations by reducing miscommunication, improving workflow efficiency, and fostering stronger client and team relationships. 

Bilingualism also enables real-time communication, minimizing delays and preventing language barriers during critical project workflows and high-stakes meetings. This streamlines operations and supports timely decision-making, making Colombian talent an indispensable resource for businesses seeking to maintain a competitive edge in international markets.

Overlapping Timezones with the United States Enables Enhanced Collaboration

Although time zones vary across the United States, Colombia’s proximity ensures a closer alignment with U.S. time zones than other global outsourcing destinations. The overlap significantly enhances the ease of collaboration and communication, allowing teams in both countries to operate within similar working hours. As a result, business operations run more efficiently, fostering real-time problem-solving and seamless interaction.

This alignment eliminates common challenges associated with working across distant time zones, such as delays or the need to navigate jetlag when coordinating with offshore partners for U.S.-based clients and their nearshore providers. 

Multilingual Teams Help the United States Reach More into the Spanish-Speaking Markets

Collaboration between Colombian multilingual teams and U.S. businesses creates a mutually beneficial partnership. As Colombia broadens its global reach through language fluency, U.S. companies leverage this expertise to tap into Spanish-speaking markets. This synergy enables both parties to expand their market presence, reaching a larger and more diverse audience. By working together, U.S. businesses can extend their operations and build stronger connections with Spanish-speaking customers, fostering a collaborative and effective working relationship.

Colombian teams’ bilingual capabilities further enhance the nearshoring experience. This linguistic proficiency improves communication and streamlines operations, delivering a more seamless and productive partnership for U.S. organizations.

Technological Support Enhancing Language Training

With cultural and linguistic training as a foundation, Colombian professionals further enhance their skills through advanced technological support and tools. These resources enable professionals to refine their multilingual capabilities more effectively, bridging communication gaps with international clients.

Nearshoring firms play a crucial role in this process by leveraging cutting-edge technology to accelerate language training programs for Colombian representatives. From AI-driven language learning platforms to immersive virtual environments, these tools streamline the training process, ensuring representatives are well-prepared to meet the diverse needs of global clients. This integration of technology and training solidifies Colombia’s position as a leading nearshoring destination.

AI-Powered Programs

Colombian representatives receive training tailored to their individual learning needs and preferences. Nearshoring firms achieve this customization by leveraging AI-powered tools that adapt to each employee’s unique requirements. These advanced tools enable a more personalized and efficient training experience, ensuring employees can absorb and apply new skills effectively.

While AI-powered tools are critical in enhancing training programs, they are designed to complement, not replace, human-led instruction. This balanced approach combines technology’s adaptability with human trainers’ empathy and insight, creating a comprehensive and effective learning environment for Colombian professionals.

Virtual Coaching

While AI enhances training processes, direct instruction from human trainers remains the cornerstone of talent and skill development for Colombian multilingual teams. Virtual coaching and training methods ensure that trainers and team leaders can effectively engage with representatives, even without in-person interaction. This approach combines convenience with productivity, allowing for efficient language skill development and professional growth.

Virtual training also streamlines scheduling, enabling consistent and regular workshop sessions. This structured approach ensures that multilingual representatives receive continuous support, fostering skill refinement and adaptability in a dynamic global market.

Comprehensive training programs set the Colombian workforce apart, establishing a standard of excellence that solidifies Colombia’s reputation as an ideal nearshoring destination.

Colombian Nearshoring With SuperStaff: Expert Support in Spanish, Tailored for Your Business

Colombia has firmly established itself as a premier nearshoring destination, recognized for its exceptional English proficiency, cultural adaptability, and commitment to advanced training and technology. These strengths position Colombia as a standout provider of comprehensive and effective outsourcing services, making it the go-to choice for businesses seeking reliable nearshore solutions.

Discover the benefits of nearshoring with Colombia through SuperStaff. With extensive experience in delivering top-tier outsourcing solutions, we are committed to addressing your business needs with cost-efficiency and excellence. Our strategically located Colombian headquarters ensures streamlined operations and consistently high-quality results. Partner with SuperStaff today and experience the success of Colombian nearshoring firsthand!